By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Aug. 30: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested three foreign nationals of a smuggling racket with 2.966 kilograms of cocaine through its special operation on different dates.
The NCB launched the special operation on August 19 when 30-year-old Shirley Gama, a South African national with passport number A09267513, arrived at the Tribhuvan International Airport from Qatar via a flight of the Qatar Airways. Gama had arrived in Qatar from Johannesburg.

Following special information and some preliminary investigation, the bureau kept an eye on Gama, who had landed in Nepal at around 4:35 pm on August 19.
At 9 pm the same night, the bureau raided Gama’s room in a Kamaladi-based hotel and arrested her with 2.966 kilogram cocaine.
The seized cocaine is said to be worth Rs. 88.98 million.

However, the bureau didn’t make the arrest of woman public then citing that they had not completed the investigation. It made her public on Sunday.
“A preliminary investigation showed that Gama was not planning to sell the cocaine in Nepal; it was en-route to India. Nepal was only a transit for the smuggling and more people were involved,” said Superintendent of Police (SP) Jeevan Shrestha.

SP Shrestha, who is also the spokesperson for NCB, further informed that they allowed Gama to contact others in a way that showed she wasn’t arrested.
“We then came in contact with an Indian national identified as 33-year-old Bijay Singh, a resident of Bangalore. Singh was arrested from Kamaladi on August 24,” read a statement by the bureau on Sunday.
After the arrest of Singh, the NCB learned about another foreign national from Tanzania.

Identified as 26-year-old Gertrude Leonard Kimaro with passport number TAE 255981, the Tanzanian national had been in Nepal under a student VISA and was enrolled in Bishwo Bhasa Campus.
Kimaro was arrested from Khurkot, Sindhuli, on August 25, while he was fleeing to India.

“We have started necessary legal process against the trio and have received permission from the Kathmandu District Court to remand them in custody for further investigation,” read the statement.